Beyonce runs toward Oscar dream

The singer-turned-actress' home gym features a picture of an iconic gold Oscar, so she can keep her eyes on the goal she is working toward.

She tells Self magazine, "I look at it, and I'm like, OK, I have to stay in shape."

And the 27 year old also goes shopping to give herself incentives to tone up: "I buy something too small and then say, 'I have a reason (to exercise) - I need to wear these jeans or this hot dress.'"

But the bootylicious beauty doesn't want to lose all her curves - because she wasn't happy about the 15 pounds (seven kilograms) she shed for her role in 2006's Dreamgirls.

She says about her thinner frame: "I felt very chic, like a model. But it didn't look natural for me. I didn't feel very sexy or feminine, and I didn't have much confidence because I didn't feel like myself."